The present disclosure relates generally to absorbent articles intended for personal wear, and more particularly to disposable absorbent articles having a fastening system for selectively fastening and refastening the article about the wearer.
Many absorbent articles intended for personal wear, such as diapers, training pants, feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence products, bandages, medical garments and the like are designed to be sufficiently absorbent to absorb moisture from liquid body exudates including urine, menses, blood, etc., away from the wearer to reduce skin irritation caused by prolonged wetness exposure. Diapers, as an example, are typically placed and secured on a wearer using a set of primary fastening tabs, such as adhesive tabs or mechanical (e.g., hook or loop) fastening system tabs, and left in place to absorb insults as well as to contain fecal waste.
For articles where the attachment is refastenable, such as diapers and some training pants, pop-opens (separation of the fasteners) can sometimes occur as a result of stresses placed on the attachment by movement of the wearer. For example, and particularly for absorbent articles employing only one fastening system, as an infant or other wearer of the absorbent article moves about (e.g., crawls, walks, runs, bends, etc.) the shear stress placed on the fastening system due to the infant's movement may cause fastening tabs or the like to loosen or even come unfastened completely, resulting in an absorbent article which tends to leak, sag, or fall off of a wearer.
Accordingly, some known absorbent articles comprise more than one fastening system and/or fasteners to reduce the likelihood of the article leaking, sagging, falling off the user, etc. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a known diaper, indicated generally at 10, comprising two fastening systems: a primary fastening system and a secondary fastening system. FIG. 1 depicts the diaper 10 in an unfolded and laid flat condition to show an outer cover 32 of the diaper which faces away from a wearer when the diaper is worn. The diaper 10 has a longitudinal direction 12 and a lateral direction 14.
In the longitudinal direction 12, the diaper 10 defines a front portion 16, a back portion 18, and a crotch portion 20 extending between and connecting the front portion and the back portion. The diaper 10 also includes a bodyside liner 30 (facing away from the view depicted in FIG. 1), and an absorbent core 34 located between the bodyside liner and the outer cover 32. The diaper 10 has opposite longitudinal side edges 28 that extend between a back waist edge 38 and a front waist edge 40. The diaper 10 also includes a pair of longitudinally-extending leg cuffs 36. The leg cuffs 36 may be adapted to fit about the legs of a wearer in use and serve as a mechanical barrier to the lateral flow of body exudates.
The back portion 18 of the diaper 10 includes a pair of back ears, indicated generally at 22. Each ear 22 includes a primary first fastening component 24 as part of the primary fastening system used to secure the diaper 10 around the waist of a wearer. The primary fastening system also comprises a primary second fastening component 76 for selectively receiving and fastening to the primary first fastening components 24. For example, the diaper 10 can be selectively moved from an unfastened configuration (as seen in FIG. 1) to a fastened or wear configuration by attaching the back waist region 18 (and more specifically the back ears 22) to the front waist region 16 to define a three-dimensional wear configuration of the diaper having a waist opening and a pair of leg openings. More particularly, the diaper 10 can be selectively moved from the unfastened configuration to the wear configuration by fastening the primary first fastening components 24 to the primary second fastening components 76 as is well known in the art.
The diaper 10 also includes a secondary fastening system comprising secondary first fastening components 26 and secondary second fastening components 78. For example, the illustrated diaper 10 comprises a pair of secondary first fastening components 26 as part of the front portion 16 of the diaper, with a secondary second fastening component 78 provided on each back ear 22. In such configurations, when the diaper 10 is moved to the wear configuration, the secondary first fastening components 26 engages the back portion 18 of the diaper (and more particularly, the secondary second fastening components 78 provided on the back ears 22) such that both the primary fastening system and the secondary fastening system secure the diaper around the waist of a wearer.
However, providing the secondary first fastening components 26 on the diaper 10 may pose drawbacks when the diaper is packaged or ultimately worn. For example, with respect to packaging, the diaper 10 may be folded when provided to an end user in a package as depicted in FIG. 2. Specifically, during manufacturing, packaging, or the like, the diaper 10 may be first tri-folded by folding the diaper along or near two longitudinal fold lines 42, such that the portions of the diaper provided outwardly of the fold lines (i.e., the portions closest to the longitudinal side edges 28) of the diaper are folded underneath the portion of the diaper located between the two longitudinal fold lines. When folded underneath, the portions disposed outwardly of the fold lines 42 may overlap one another underneath a portion of the diaper 10 containing the absorbent core 34. The diaper 10 may then be bi-folded along or near lateral fold line 44 such that the back waist edge 38 is generally aligned with the front waist edge 40 in the folded configuration.
When the diaper 10 is folded in the conventional manner described above, the secondary first fastening components 26 (which are disposed at or inward of the fold line 42) may be partially or fully disposed on an outside of the folded diaper (as illustrated in FIG. 2). More particularly, and as best seen in FIG. 1, the longitudinal fold lines 42 may be provided outward (i.e., closer to the longitudinal side edges 28) than the edges of the absorbent core 34. However, because the secondary first fastening components 26 are provided near or even abutting the absorbent core 34, the diaper 10 will be folded such that the secondary first fastening components 26 are disposed on or (as illustrated in FIG. 1) even inboard of the fold lines 42. Thus, when the folded diaper 10 is ultimately provided in a stack within a package provided to the end user (as depicted in FIG. 3), the secondary first fastening components 26 will be disposed on the outside of a diaper and may engage an adjoining diaper. More specifically, the secondary first fastening components 26 of a first diaper 10 in a stack may engage the outer cover 32 of an adjoining diaper. Thus, when removing a diaper 10 from the stack of diapers for use, a user may have to forcibly separate the diaper from an adjoining (and attached) diaper. This may result in delaminating, tearing, etc., one or both of the adjoining diapers 10.
Further, because in such a configuration the secondary first fastening components 26 are disposed on the outside of the diaper 10, the folded diaper may engage other diapers or other objects during a packaging process. For example, the diaper 10 may be folded as described and subsequently packaged via, e.g., an automated process, a machine line, a conveyor belt, an assembly line, or the like. When the secondary first fastening components 26 are provided on the outside of the folded diaper 10 as is depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, during this packaging process (e.g., during movement down a conveyor belt, stacking the diapers in consumer packaging, etc.) the diaper may be prone to catching on other objects and/or other diapers via the exposed secondary first fastening components. This may cause damage to the diapers 10 ultimately packaged and/or cause delays in the manufacturing or packaging process.
Some known diapers avoid such problems by disposing a pair of fastening components (similar to the depicted secondary first fastening components 26) at or near a corresponding side edge 28 of the diaper 10 such that it will ultimately be disposed on an inside of the diaper when folded as described above. However, when such fastening components are disposed at or near the corresponding longitudinal side edge 28, the secondary first fastening component 26 may be prone to engaging a portion the bodyside liner 30 or a containment flap (not shown) of the diaper 10 when in the folded state. This may lead to, e.g., delamination or tearing of the bodyside liner 30 or the containment flap when the diaper 10 is unfolded for use.
Further, in such configurations, one of the secondary first fastening components 26 may engage the bodyside liner 30 and/or a flap, with the other secondary first fastening component engaging the outer cover 32. Thus, when a user unfolds the diaper 10, the user must complete two steps. That is, the user must first separate a first of the secondary first fastening components 26 from the outer cover 32 of the diaper 10 (to unfold the diaper along the lateral fold line 44), and then would need to separate a second of the secondary first fastening components from the bodyside liner 30 and/or flaps (to unfold the diaper along the pair of longitudinal fold lines 42). Thus, in such configurations, the diaper 10 may be difficult to prepare when placing the diaper on a wearer (e.g., an infant).
For example, and returning to FIG. 1, if each secondary first fastening component 26 were disposed at or near a corresponding side edge 28 of the diaper 10 rather than near the absorbent core 34, when the diaper is tri-folded as discussed, each secondary first fastening component would be disposed very near a center line of the diaper at a location where the front portion 16 of the diaper overlaps itself. In such embodiments, one of the secondary first fasteners 26 may engage the bodyside liner 30 (and/or a containment flap, not shown) of the diaper at this overlapping region. In such a configuration, when a user pulls the folded diaper 10 apart for use (i.e., when the user disengages the secondary first fastening components 26 from the bodyside liner 30) the bodyside liner may become delaminated or tear. This may result in the secondary first fastening components 26 retaining residual pieces of the torn bodyside liner 30 (leading to a less effective secondary fastening system), and/or the torn bodyside liner causing discomfort to the wearer, leaking, and/or being aesthetically unpleasing to a user of the diaper 10.
Further, when the secondary first fastening components are disposed at the overlapping region, a first of the secondary first fastening components will be disposed below and overlapped by the front portion 16 of the diaper 10, with a second of the secondary first fastening components disposed on the part of the front portion of the diaper which overlaps the first of the secondary first fastening components and exposed to the outer cover 32. Thus, when folded along the lateral fold line 44, the first of the secondary first fastening components 26 will engage the bodyside liner 30 and/or the flap, while the second of the secondary first fastening components will engage the outer cover 32. Thus, during use, a user must first disengage the second of the secondary first fastening components 26 from the outer cover 32 to unfold the diaper 10 along the lateral fold line 44, and then must disengage the first of the secondary first fastening components from the bodyside liner 30 and/or the flap to unfold the diaper along the longitudinal fold lines 42. Thus, this configuration adds an unfolding step for the user as compared to diapers 10 in which both of the secondary first fastening components 26 engage, e.g., the outer cover 32.
Other known diapers thus attempt to diminish the problems discussed above by disposing the secondary first fastening components 26 outboard of fold lines 42 depicted in FIG. 1 but inboard of the longitudinal side edges 28. For example, Kimberly-Clark de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. currently manufactures and makes commercially available a diaper 10 which comprises a pair of secondary first fastening components 26 on the front portion 16 of the diaper 10. See, e.g., Huggies® ultracomfort diaper with the Dúo Velcro® fastening system (“the KC-Mexico diaper”). The pair of secondary first fastening components 26 of the KC-Mexico diaper 10 are positioned very near (and in some embodiments even abut) the longitudinal side edges of an absorbent core 34 of the KC-Mexico diaper. When packaging the KC-Mexico diaper 10, the diaper is folded along the longitudinal edges of the absorbent core 34 such that a portion of the secondary first fastening components 26 are facing an inside of the folded diaper.
However, because the secondary first fastening components 26 are disposed very near (and in some embodiments even abut) the longitudinal sides of the absorbent core 34, when the diaper 10 is folded the entirety of the secondary first fastening components may not be disposed on an inside of the folded diaper, or, alternatively, may be disposed inside the folded diaper but very near or adjacent to a longitudinally extending folded side of the folded diaper. More particularly, the inboard longitudinal edges of the secondary first fastening components 26 of the KC-Mexico diaper 10 (i.e., the longitudinal edges of the secondary first fastening components abutting the absorbent core 34) may be disposed very near, at, or even inside of the fold lines 42 and thus may be prone to being exposed outside of the folded diaper along the folded edges. Thus, the KC-Mexico diaper 10 suffers at least some of the deficiencies described above, including being prone to engaging other diapers, objects, packaging, etc., during manufacturing and packaging the diaper.
In addition, manufacturing of the diaper 10 such that the secondary first fastening components 26 are disposed on the primary second fastening component 76 prior to manufacturing of the diaper 10 can also lead to certain limitations in the preparation and processing of the primary second fastening component 76.
Still further, a stiffness or similar properties of the secondary first fastening components 26 may lead to discomfort or decreased mobility for a wearer of the diaper 10. For example, when wearing the diaper 10, an infant may crawl, walk, run, bend, etc., in such a manner that the front portion 16 of the diaper moves, bends, or otherwise deforms. Thus, if the secondary fastening system (and more particularly the secondary first fastening components 26 disposed on the front portion 16 of the diaper 10) is too stiff, the user may have decreased mobility as the front portion of the diaper may not be as readily deformed as if the secondary fastening system was omitted from the diaper. Further, a relatively stiff secondary fastening system may be uncomfortable to a wearer with the relatively unpliable secondary first fastening components 26 providing irritation when the wearer moves.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved fastening system provided on an absorbent article which provides for increased protection against leakage and secure attachment of the absorbent article without the associated discomfort and/or packaging and manufacturing drawbacks discussed above. There is also a need for an improved fastening system provided on an absorbent article which provides for efficiencies in processing and converting of raw materials of the absorbent article.